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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Food sharing is linked to urinary oxytocin levels and bonding in related and unrelated wild chimpanzees
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Volume 281, No. 1778, Article 20133096, Year 2014
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Description
Humans excel in cooperative exchanges between unrelated individuals. Although this trait is fundamental to the success of our species, its evolution and mechanisms are poorly understood. Other social mammals also build long-term cooperative relationships between non-kin, and recent evidence shows that oxytocin, a hormone involved in parent-offspring bonding, is likely to facilitate non-kin as well as kin bonds. In a population of wild chimpanzees, we measured urinary oxytocin levels following a rare cooperative event-food sharing. Subjects showed higher urinary oxytocin levels after single food-sharing events compared with other types of social feeding, irrespective of previous social bond levels. Also, urinary oxytocin levels following food sharing were higher than following grooming, another cooperative behaviour. Therefore, food sharing in chimpanzees may play a key role in social bonding under the influence of oxytocin. We propose that food-sharing events co-opt neurobiological mechanisms evolved to support mother-infant bonding during lactation bouts, and may act as facilitators of bonding and cooperation between unrelated individuals via the oxytocinergic system across social mammals. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Wittig, Roman Martin
United Kingdom, St Andrews
University of st Andrews
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
Uganda, Masindi
Budongo Conservation Field Station
Crockford, Catherine
United Kingdom, St Andrews
University of st Andrews
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
Uganda, Masindi
Budongo Conservation Field Station
Deschner, Tobias
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
Langergraber, Kevin E.
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
United States, Boston
Boston University
Ziegler, Toni Elaine
United States, Madison
Wisconsin National Primate Research Center
Zuberbühler, Klaus
United Kingdom, St Andrews
University of st Andrews
Uganda, Masindi
Budongo Conservation Field Station
Switzerland, Neuchatel
Université de Neuchâtel
Statistics
Citations: 192
Authors: 6
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1098/rspb.2013.3096
ISSN:
09628452
e-ISSN:
14712954
Research Areas
Food Security
Maternal And Child Health
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study